Tired Of Living On Shankbones?
By Rabbi Moshe Yoseph Koniuchowsky
Updated 12-29-99

Editor’s Note: It is necessary to remind our readers that all articles are in no way created to cause divisions or to generate antagonism against a particular group or groups of people. We believe in the full and total unity of both Israelites (Jews, Ephraimites) & non-Israelites in the body of Messiah. We believe that this unity must take place in the context of both biblical and historical truths, no matter how painful it may be to point out the errors of widely held vain religious views. If followed correctly, this unity will result in seeking "christians" leaving their Babylonian systems and partaking in citizenship of the Commonwealth of Israel and of Zion as equal heirs of Yahweh. Saved Israelites should not partake in the common bankruptcy of paganism cloaked in religious veneer. If we are truly going to be one in Him, much incorrect doctrine will have to be left behind. Controversy for controversy’s sake is sin. Controversy for truth’s sake is a divine mandate. May Yahweh continue to enable us to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.
In Exodus 12:10 Yahweh commanded that all true Passover lamb eaters were to leave no Passover lamb remaining. Leftovers were forbidden. The lamb either had to be eaten or burned. Both eating and burning are acts of consumption. As a foreshadow of things to come, Yahweh had asked that the fullness of the Lamb (the Word) be dispensed to his followers.

Psalms 119 verses 89 and 160, Habbakuk 3:6 and countless other passages, declare the eternality of Torah. Despite the truth of Torah’s eternal applications, the church has refused to dispense it in its entirety and instead declared it null, void and abolished! This foolhardy theology was basically designed to punish the Jews for supposed deicide (the death of god). By putting itself in Yahweh’s place of authority, the church labeled anyone who taught Torah and its precepts as heretical legalistic Judaizers. By so doing, the church withheld over two-thirds of Yahweh’s full biblical revelation from its followers. Church doctrine has kept traditional Jews away from Messiah’s claims and dispensed leftover shank bones to Messiah’s children by limiting Bible-believers to the study of the New Covenant, instead of feeding them the full counsel of Yahweh (both Testaments), symbolized by the entire Passover lamb.

As one looks back over 2,000 years of bloodstained church history, many perversions of biblical truth and ungodly manifestations of lawlessness are evident. The early church fathers reacted intensely to anything Jewish and began dispensing leftover shank bones of the teachings of the Passover lamb to its adherents by avoiding the teachings of Tanach (Old Covenant).

Are the eternally binding principles and instructions of Torah just for the First Covenant Israel? Does the Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) annul and replace Torah? Not according to Messiah. According to the very words of Yahshua, He taught that the Torah would serve as the instruction manual of Yahweh, in the New Covenant community of faith.

In Matthew 5:17-19 (NKJV) Yahshua said, "do not think that I have come to abolish Torah or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Torah until everything is accomplished. Any one who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

The terms, fulfill and abolish, refer to Torah and are both rabbinical Jewish expressions. When an ancient rabbi gave a reasonable and logical commentary on a scripture verse he was said to be fulfilling Torah. In other words, he was doing a good job in rightly dividing it. If on the other hand he had incorrectly commented on the scripture, he was accused of abolishing the verse through incorrect commentary.

Being willfully ignorant of these common Jewish idioms, the church has taught that since Yahshua fulfilled Torah, we don’t have to do anything. Thus let the HAM PARTY begin! Obviously this kind of interpretation of Matthew 5:17-19 results in churches teaching antinomianism. Our blessed Master Yahshua was teaching that unlike others who were preaching the abolition of Torah through weird interpretations, Yahshua was sent to fulfill or to correctly interpret Torah. Yahshua gave no license to his talmidim (disciples) to break Torah. This is wishful thinking on the part of popery and misguided Protestants.

For 2 millennia the paganized church system has been breaking Torah and worst of all, distributing tips and encouragement for others to do the same. Many hyper Calvinist dispensationalists will of course claim that Messiah was teaching Torah before "The Cross." What hogwash! HaAdon Yahshua bound all New Covenant believers to observe and to teach Torah observance until heaven and earth disappear. Yahshua said that Torah should be taught in His blood washed believing community, until the Olam Habah (coming world) dawns (Matt. 5:17-19)!

Golgotha and Yahshua’s execution stake never had any mystical power to end Torah observance, even though the eventual disappearance of the sun and moon will. When the end of this age dawns it will then be evident how much the church has been discredited, brought low and ridiculed by the world at large as well as by Jews worldwide, because of their own abolition and mishandling of Torah. Many in the church have taught lawlessness instead of teaching Torah. Two millennia ago, churchianity declared a "grace party" deciding to ham things up! They thus embarked on a faith devoid of Torah and their Jewish ancestors, thus rendering themselves least in the kingdom.

Yahweh gave even sterner warnings to the church’s so-called "Spirit-filled" adherents who teach abolition of Torah. In Matthew 7:21 and 22, the scripture speaks of many who serve Yahweh and scream out Yahshua’s Lordship, including big name christian "healing evangelists" and "deliverance ministers", as those who will not inherit eternal life.

According to Matthew 7:23 Yahshua the Messiah rejects these men because their haughtiness allows them to proclaim a Yahshua and a Gospel totally devoid of Torah. Yahshua will say to them (verse 23B), "depart from me, you who practice lawlessness."

In an attempt to cover their own anti-Torah bias, the King James translators (many of whom were anti-Semitic) translated the word, lawlessness as iniquity. Almighty Yahshua taught his followers who called him Master, not to practice or teach a Spirit-filled life apart from Torah (John 15:10). Torah of course, does not mean law. Rather, it refers to the set apart instructions of Yahweh. Dyed-in-the-wool antinomians with an anti-Messiah agenda, rendered the word law from the Greek word nomai, which simply means instruction. Monks who lived in the middle ages also "christianized" Yahshua’s midrashim (commentaries) on Torah, by adding the italicized words and other man-made interpretations into the second generation Greek text in order to vacuum all of its inbred Hebraic roots!

The ultimate venom and hatred for Torah will soon be manifested by the devil’s son the anti-Messiah, who is called "the man of lawlessness" according to 2nd Thessalonians 2:8! He will be extremely effective and seduce droves of church-goers with his anti-Messiah agenda, during the 70th week of Daniel (the elect, not very elect who have come out of the system) in Matthew 24:24. The anti-Messiah will proclaim the same anti-Torah doctrine that "churchianity" has bathed in for more than 1900 years. Church-goers will find his message appealing and familiar, since it coincides with their shankbone mentality.

In the same way that churchianity has declared the seven Feasts of Yahweh (Leviticus 23) to be outdated "Jewish" observances, the anti-Messiah will demonstrate contempt for Torah and Yahweh’s Feasts. He will promote the pagan Greco-Roman holiday celebrations we are all used to in the western world. He will confirm churchianity’s thirst for their manmade unbiblical holidays. Daniel 7:25 confirms the startling fact that modern day churchianity will find an ally in the soon coming anti-Messiah. Sadly, the anti-Messiah will find many doctrinally lawless allies in churchianity. For three and a half years "church folks" will endure the anti-Messiah’s wrath as Yahweh’s correction for lawlessness and antinomianism.

These verses should be very sobering indeed. May Yahweh begin to melt the hearts of lawless believers, who are in grave danger of becoming recipients of both mans wrath (the Great Tribulation) as well as Yahweh’s wrath (Day of Yahweh)! A steep price to pay because their ministers told them that it was spiritually fulfilling and pleasing to the Elohim of Israel, for the body of Messiah to survive with mere shank bones of his Word.

Part of the reason that the church world has placed itself on a strict diet of shankbones (leftover pieces of lamb), is due to pagan viruses authored by Lucifer and propagated by Constantine, Justin Martyr, Origen, Iraneus, and Chrysostom (all publicly avowed Jew haters). These viruses have spread into many areas of the modern church world. They are so deeply lodged and entrenched that Yahshua prophesied that by the end of this age, almost all doctrines that pass as church doctrine, will be totally leavened (Matt 13:33). In Luke 18:8 through a rhetorical question He posed to His talmidim, He informed us that true messianic faith will be almost impossible to find at the time of His parousia (return)!

Today we find the literal fulfillment of this prophetic parable. We recall the warnings of Rav Shaul (Paul) in I Tim. 4:1-3. He reminds us that the latter days (the days immediately preceding Yahshua’s return to this earth), will be the days of widespread demonic doctrines (verse 1). We must not think that the modern Hellenized pagan church system, simply woke up one morning and found itself the unjust victim of some kind of third party imposed heathenism. church apostasy (I Tim. 4:1, 2 Thess 2:1) is a direct result of the early church fathers adopting and then bequeathing a shankbone mentality to church adherents.

Church apostasy may be likened to that of our forefathers in First Covenant national Israel, who willfully departed from the pure loving teachings of Torah to modern apostasy, as is often found in much of traditional Judaism and its man-made doctrines. Since Yahweh commanded the entire Passover lamb to be eaten or burned in Exodus 12:10 (both acts of consumption), it remains incumbent upon all believers to eat all the good doctrines and revelations of the Lamb’s (Messiah’s) love and grace.

As Rav Shaul put it, he was determined to declare and present the full counsel of Yahweh (Acts 20:27), which is synonymous to teaching believers a desire to hunger and thirst after all of Yahweh’s instructions. The very thing that Rav Shaul purposed to do, the early church attempted to negate by withholding major biblical doctrines and instead dispensing shankbones laced with spiritual cyanide. This shankbone mentality has created an atmosphere that has left most church-goers spiritually misled, or Jew hating anti-Semites.

How could this shankbone-dispensing have taken hold, despite Yahshua’s warnings in Matt 13:52? In verse 52 He states that true New Covenant teachers must be qualified to teach not only the Pauline epistles, but are required to have just as much expertise in Torah instruction. It has been documented in historical records of the early church (325 AD-present), that the church has been more interested in burning Torah scrolls, than in studying and teaching them. Many modern day New Covenant scholars are not true scribes!

Again we are forced to address the question. How could this have happened? Before that is answered we acknowledge that occasionally when church leaders do teach from Torah, it is to justify a New Covenant point. To put it another way, the only time when a Torah portion is taught, it is to point out a typology or a shadow of things to come. Not withstanding this occasional dabbling in Torah, scripture teaches that the entire Torah and Tanach are a daily instruction manual for holy living by the community of Yahweh (Second Timothy 3:15-17), as opposed to a Church Sun-Day School tool! They should be lifted up as "here and now" documents, crucial to godly living and survival for children of Elohim.

The two main reasons for shankbone doctrine are replacement theology and dispensationalism. These two theologies are twin sisters. First we will address replacement theology. Replacement theology teaches that Yahweh always replaces a previous covenant with a newer, different or better one. Once the newer one is cut, it virtually nullifies or at best decreases the importance of the previous one.

Yahweh made or renewed seven covenants with mankind. These are Noahic, Abrahamic, Isaac, Jacobic (three time renewal of the same promise), Mosaic, Davidic, and the Messianic Brit Chadashah. The perfect covenant was the seventh made with Israel’s Redeemer. Seven is the number of completion, not replacement. Yahweh has never and will never replace any of these covenants. There are still rainbows, stars and David’s throne, all eternal tokens of these various eternal covenants. Yahweh does not have to nullify one to cut a newer one. He never has and never will. The failure of the church system to grasp this basic concept, has led to the false conclusion that since the Brit Chadashah has replaced Torah, then Yahshua has replaced Moses and the so called church has replaced Israel. Rav Shaul calls this theology which is at the core of popery as well as most reformation churches, demonic doctrine. Demonic doctrine is the reason for shankbones being distributed to Yahshua’s children. Ultimately "S.A.Tan" is the author of all falsehoods!

The second cause of shankbone distribution centers (most local churches), is hyper-dispensationalism. Hyper-dispensationalism is a fancy word for a man-made theory that teaches that Yahweh deals differently with different people in different economies and different historical times. This garbage began to proliferate through the dispensational teachings of John Darby in the 1880’s. Darby is really the father of modern hyper-dispensationalism! The prophets and the Messiah of Israel however knew nothing of this doctrine. Their teachings were clear that from Adam until Kingdom come was the one and only dispensation! The dispensation of man’s depravity would end and give way to the establishing of the Atid Lavoh or the millennial rule of the King Messiah in the age to come. Two ages. Now, and then! This and that! No dispensations! Period! That is the emes (truth)! The biblical admonition that Yahweh never changes his methods (Mal.3: 6, Heb.13: 8) rings clear.

The dispensationalist school also renders Yahweh impotent to deal with many groups or nationalities simultaneously. This demonic thinking states that in order for Yahweh to deal with the church in a new dispensation, He had to eliminate the previous one. Isn’t Yahweh working in all the earth among all diverse peoples simultaneously? Is there a single piece of scriptural evidence to justify dispensationalism? Did Yahweh have to ridicule and replace Moshe and Joshua to establish the throne of His Son, or does Yahweh still simultaneously honor all three? Yahshua’s appearing did not eliminate the various ministries of other divinely sent prophets. They all spoke and through their writings still speak for Almighty Yahweh. Yahweh is not like a human employee who cannot hold two full-time jobs simultaneously. Yahweh never eliminates a covenant or a promise in order to replace it.

Those dyed-in-the-wool dispensationalists, who insist that we are under the dispensation of "Gentile grace", must be reminded that a mixed multitude left Egypt (Exodus12: 38). A mixed multitude was permitted into the Gentile courts of both the wilderness tabernacle and Solomon’s temple. There were so many "Gentiles" who were children of Yahweh in First Covenant Israel interspersed among national Israel, that Yahweh ordered Moshe Rabainu to build them a special court in which to worship Elohim, so they would not be LEFT OUT!!!

Since First Covenant Gentiles (strangers, foreigners and sojourners) always had access to a covenant relationship with Yahweh through Torah, the Dispensation of the Gentiles never began! Since it never began, neither will it end at the so-called "rapture" since they (Gentiles) have always been welcome in Yahweh’s family. Problems develop when non-Israelites are discontented living with their Jewish brethren as echad (Greek: Mia). Thus they leave to form their own separate family apart from Israel. That is how the historic church came into being!

While the Bible does not literally mention anything known as "the Gentile dispensation," it does mention "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24). The "times of the Gentiles" (or nations) refers to a time period of accelerated spiritual awareness in both pace and intensity among nations. The "times of the Gentiles" is without numerical precedent as a great period of the drawing in of the non-Jewish nations (Ephraimites and non-Israelites) to the Elohim of Israel. It commenced at Calvary and continues until Almighty Yahshua’s soon return.

Yell, scream, kick, and object all you want. The Bible not only does not teach dispensationalism, it labels it demonic doctrine. Dispensationalism was the fertilizer that nourished the seeds of pre-existing European anti-Semitism. It gave Adolph Hitler a theological justification to destroy the Jewish race, since his spiritual ancestor Martin Luther had declared all Jews forsaken and cursed by Yahweh as products of an old and forsaken dispensation! On several occasions, Hitler quoting Luther proclaimed that he was called to enact the will of Yahweh regarding the Jews and even shared this madness with the Pope (another dispensationalist). Since the Pope and Hitler shared the same theology about the Jews, the Pope conspired with Adolph Hitler to remain silent about Hitler’s proposed Final Solution to the Jewish "problem". All the while the Pope knew Hitler’s insane intentions! With that in mind, we recall that Yahshua spoke of a tree always being known by the fruit it produces. A bad and corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit. Common sense teaches us that dispensationalism cannot be from Yahweh, since it has consistently and cyclically been used repeatedly through the centuries to kill one of Yahweh’s two chosen families. The fruit of dispensationalist teachings has usually been rotten to the core resulting in death and murder. Yahweh is the author of life. Both physical and spiritual! By definition His covenant keeping nature, does not allow Him to glide into any form of church dispensationalist propaganda.

By now you must be wondering how you can forsake a shankbone diet and enter into a true Paschal feast! That can be accomplished by understanding and embracing the biblical principle of "stacking." What is stacking? Glad you asked! Stacking is the biblical principle that each of the seven covenants that Yahweh made with national Israel or her patriarchs are all valid, eternal, perfect, flawless and precise. Each of the seven is endorsed, ordained and approved by Yahweh-Elohim. While the purposes in giving each covenant may vary, the eternal truths and principles of each covenant do not change and are not superseded by each other. There may be occasions where the Davar (Word of) Yahweh specifically and clearly states that one aspect of a covenant does what no other covenant can do. For instance eternal life and eternal salvation are the most glorious aspects of the Brit Chadasha and are not designed to be obtained from Torah. Salvation can only be found through the testator (Yahshua) of the Brit Chadashah. Using the principle of "stacking", we soon realize that Yahweh adds progressive revelations in each covenant, not found in previous ones and stacks these progressive revelations on top of one another in a neat stack. The aggregate total of this stacking of 66 books into 7 covenants, is what today is called Yahweh’s Word. Yahweh compiled and maintains His Word through stacking, not through replacement theology and hyper-dispensationalism.

We as seekers of truth with a newfound understanding of stacking must discontinue our "either-or" attitude regarding Torah. The key to fully comprehending stacking is that the greater revelation never negates the lesser revelation. It may shed light on it, but it never ever replaces previous divine revelations. The Bible is a compilation of stacked divine progressive revelations and promises, none of which has been replaced or removed. Understanding the biblical principle of stacking will lead one to the simple conclusion that Yahweh always had His people, which historically was always composed of a mixed multitude called ISRAEL. In the Renewed Covenant, Yahshua took this eternal principle and enlarged it to include greater numbers of non-Israelite believers within the last two thousand years than ever before. The result is what scripture calls the "times of the Gentiles (nations)".

In conclusion if we choose the Renewed Covenant that Yahshua brought the people of Israel, all the while rejecting Torah for our daily living manual, we give honor and praise to the wicked one the devil (Prov.28: 4). If we choose Torah and forsake Yahshua’s love (traditional Judaism), we will be eternally damned and separated from Yahweh (Matt 10:33). We need both these revelations along with the other five covenants between Yahweh and mankind, along with all the information contained in them, to feast on a fully roasted lamb. Since Yahshua wrote the Torah through Moshe Rabainu, He has the copyright and thus deemed it important for all eternity (Matt 5:17-19) and not just for a fictitious set dispensation.

Maybe, just maybe, the time has come for all seekers of truth to start eating a more balanced spiritual diet by forever rejecting the shankbones passed down to us by vain antinomian deceptions of our fathers! The choice is yours! Starting today, why not allow the Ruach Hakodesh to renew your mind and maybe even your theology? After all divine truth is the noblest of all pursuits! Selah.